Employers added 50,000 jobs in December, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and if you’re not paying attention, that headline (which is popping up everywhere) might seem like an accomplishment. When you look at the numbers, though, you realize it’s a modest gain that capped off what is now officially the weakest year of U.S. job growth since 2020. After months of slowing momentum, downward revisions, and rising layoffs, the final jobs report of 2025 underscored a broader reality: Hiring hasn’t stopped, but it has clearly lost steam.
December’s Jobs by the Numbers
The 50,000 jobs added in December came in below expectations. Economists surveyed by FactSet forecasted 55,000 new jobs for the month, and the job market instead experienced a small miss — but it fits the pattern of the past several months. Payroll gains for both October and November were revised downward, erasing tens of thousands of previously reported jobs. The unemployment rate edged down slightly to 4.4% in December, from 4.5% in November.
The Weakest Job Gains Since 2020
For all of 2025, employers added an average of just 50,000 jobs per month, according to BLS data. That’s a steep drop from 2024, when monthly gains averaged 168,000, and it marks the slowest year of job growth since 2020. You know, the year when we had a global pandemic that basically shut the entire nation down. It’s not exactly the baseline you want to compare to.
Businesses spent much of the year pulling back amid economic uncertainty, and it showed up not just in slower hiring but in layoffs. Employers announced 1.2 million job cuts in 2025, a 58% jump from the year before and the highest total since 2020, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Some of those cuts came from major corporations like Amazon, which reduced headcount as it leaned more heavily on artificial intelligence. Others came from the public sector, where the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency oversaw roughly 300,000 government job reductions last year.
So, What’s Next?
The cooling labor market has already pushed the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates three times late last year, in order to lower borrowing costs and nudge businesses back toward expansion.
But expectations for 2026 are muted. Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, said that he expects hiring to average just 25,000 new jobs per month during the first half of the year. At the same time, the unemployment rate could drift up to 4.8%. Taken together, the December jobs report reads less like a victory lap and more like confirmation. The labor market is still adding jobs — just not many, not quickly, and not in ways that suggest a rebound is right around the corner.
More From Cheapism
- 10 Companies With the Most Layoffs in 2025 (Plus More Planned for 2026) — According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, AI alone accounted for nearly 55,000 U.S. job cuts this year.
- Lay Off on the Layoffs! Job Cuts Are at the Highest Level Since the Pandemic — Industries impacted the most by layoffs included technology, food companies, and telecommunications firms.
- Stores and Restaurants That Have Already Announced Closures for 2026 — This year is shaping up to be brutal.
